ridicule is nothing to be scared of.

2007-02-19 / 1:05 p.m.

kid things
"I'm just letting you know, I have on a lot of cummerbunds," I announced, before I took off my coat. I whiled away my hours between church-gig services over at my sister's house yesterday.

"How many?" Mol asked.

"Well, just two: one in front, and one in back." In this manner, I covered up the weird length of my shirt and also cinched it in over the dress I was wearing.

"That is a dress to dance with a prince!" Jude exclaimed. "I will dance with you," he offered, taking my hands and swaying me back and forth. Later he sang "Ten Minutes Ago" from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella, all in his High Voice, which I love. Henry could not help but join in, sort of under his breath, even though he was wrangling his big limbs into a tiny pirate costume borrowed from a friend. It is difficult for him to sword fight without the correct outfit on. Jude was content to put on his Thing costume, which gives him puffy rock boobs. When I tried on the mask after he'd worn it, it smelled like M & Ms.

They're having a Cinderella-inspired Prince Charming thing right now. Did I tell you about how Henry wanted me to look up Prince Charming on YouTube last week? I obliged him, and we ended up watching, among other things, this:

Forgive the shitty quality, but I want to impress upon you how surreal this was. We watched it at Henry's insistence. I explained to Henry that the Prince Charming costume was actually sort of Adam Ant's look, like tuxedos are Henry's look.

While I'm at it, here's a pertinent list, and you can find the links yourself, you lazy bum:

items viewed on youtube with Henry
1. The Thriller video.
2. A Bollywood version of Thriller (truly weird).
3. The wedding party Thriller dance video.
4. A shot-for-shot re-creation of the Thriller video with Legos.
5. The Beat It video.
6. Michael Jackson performing "Billie Jean" live in Australia, with Macaulay Culkin and Elizabeth Taylor in the front row. This was strictly for moonwalk footage.

related discussions
"Why does he wear one glove?" Henry asked.

"That's part of his look," I told him. "You know, sort of how a tuxedo is your look." (This is a valuable explanation and I anticipate using it a lot more. I used it to justify the black highwaters, white socks, black loafers, and red leather jackets.)

"I would like to learn the Thriller dance," Henry decided, jerking his shoulders up and down.

Meanwhile, Mol brainstormed that she might start including choreography in her event-planning services, like if say someone wanted to do a Rhythm Nation thing at a wedding reception, Mol would learn it and teach it to them ahead of time. This is probably an idea whose time has come.

other, also kid, also sartorial
"Do you think you'd like to learn to knit one day?" I asked Henry, as he unwound the spool of weird thread I'm knitting. "You could knit a sweater vest."

"I could knit a LOT of sweater vests. I could knit suspenders," he suggested, which is odd, but I might try it. "I could have a whole store full of Handsome Clothes."

an inspirational message

No one has the right to sit down and feel hopeless. There's too much work to do.

Thus spake Dorothy Day. What a truly (and yet admirably) American thing to say.

She's not my lover,
Maven.

PS: More stuff up on EBAY. I can't believe no one has bid on the awesome ski vest, but on the other hand I won't be sorry to keep it.

Spinning:
Feeling:
Plotting:

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